New Menopause Café offers Kendal people peer support

A new Menopause Café which offers peer support to individuals going through perimenopause or menopause, their family, carers and friends, was attended by more than 30 people at its launch in November.

The next event will be held on Monday 30 January between 10.30am and 12pm at The Bakery at No 4, 36 Woolpack Yard, Kendal, LA9 4NG.

Menopause Café is an open, respectful and confidential space where anyone who wishes to talk about menopause can come along and discuss their thoughts, concerns and experiences. It also gives people the chance to connect with professionals from the menopause community, share experiences, and find out what support is available in the community.

The café was set up by local GP Dr Catherine Munro and colleagues at the James Cochrane Practice and supported by Kendal Primary Care Network and Kendal Integrated Care Community, and other members of the local menopause community.

Dr Catherine Munro said: “It’s important that we build a strong menopause community and work across organisations to support women at what can be a particularly tricky time in their lives.

“The hope is that the café will grow and become a community-led initiative supported by menopause professionals.”

Victoria Taylor, Patient Services Manager for the James Cochrane Practice, said: “The first café was really well received and reflected that the Kendal community are ready to talk about the menopause – it was something that was very sought after.

“We had some great feedback from attendees who said they are looking forward to the next session. We’d also like to thank the team at The Bakery at No 4 who have been brilliant.

“We are hoping to hold future events and talks on the menopause to continue to raise awareness and highlight the support in the community.”

Feedback from attendees has included:

• “Menopause is so significant and affects such a lot people but we don’t talk about it. Now we are talking about it and support is out there.”

The team are really looking forward to the Café on 30th January and are hoping that anyone curious about the Menopause, affected by it, or going through it themselves will join them for a coffee, a cake, and a chat about the Menopause.

The team are in the process of planning more events and are launching a Facebook page (@SouthLakesMenopauseHub) which aims to share information about what is happening locally in the space of Menopause and Wellbeing. Dates of further cafes and other events such as upcoming talks, and details of local support will be shared from there.

Menopause Café is a national initiative founded by Rachel Weiss. The first café was held in Perth, Scotland in 2017. You can find out more about Menopause Café here https://www.menopausecafe.net/our-history 

What is the menopause?

The menopause is when your periods stop due to lower hormone levels. This usually happens between the ages of 45 and 55.

It can sometimes happen earlier naturally or for reasons such as surgery to remove the ovaries or the uterus; cancer treatments like chemotherapy, or a genetic reason. Sometimes the reason is unknown.

Perimenopause is when you have symptoms before your periods have stopped. You reach menopause when you have not had a period for 12 months.

Menopause and perimenopause can cause symptoms like anxiety, mood swings, brain fog, hot flushes and irregular periods. These symptoms can start years before your periods stop and carry on afterwards.

Menopause and perimenopause symptoms can have a big impact on your life, including relationships at work.

There are things you can do to help with symptoms. There are also medicines that can replace the missing hormones and help relieve your symptoms. You can find out more about the menopause treatments and support here.